Apr 28, 2011

Santorum's Record Impacting Conservative Support

Guest Column by Christopher Bedford ConservativeHQ.com

Fifty percent of Tea Partiers and conservative activists polled by Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com believe that former Sen. Rick Santorum's (R-PA) vote for the 2003 Medicare prescription drug plan hurts a run for the presidency. A further 17 percent remained undecided.

The poll comes on the heels of Santorum's regret for his vote on the bill, which he expressed on "Fox News Sunday."

"It was a 51-49 vote," Santorum said. "In retrospect, it should have been a 51-49 vote the other way."

An initiative of President George W. Bush, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and ModernizationAct was the largest overhaul in the 38-year old entitlement program's history.

While the Bush Administration hailed its passage as responsibly dealing with a problem the country was unwilling to tackle head-on, critics have called it an expansion of the welfare state and pointed out that it isn't paid for.

Since it was passed, at an estimated cost of $400 billion over ten years, the price tag has risen to $549.2 billion.

Thirty-three percent of those polled do not believe the 2003 vote will impact Santorum's possible presidential run.

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